Challenge

Icelandic-based Marel is one of the leading actors in machinery, software, and systems for food processing. Operating within 32 countries, Marel is driven by a passion for meeting a growing demand for quality and sustainable solutions that benefit the global community.

For several years, Merkle has assisted Marel in bringing digital experiences to life, altering a traditional relationship-driven B2B industry to a new narrative of ever-changing demands.

The wake of the pandemic esclated the digital transformation that Marel already had started as it became clear that a rapid adjustment of interaction methods to meet customers’ needs across physical and digital touchpoints was key to success.

The three main challenges Marel faced were to

1. utilize customer data from scattered data systems due to M&A
   
   
2. ensure marketing accountability by documenting business effects of marketing programs
   
   
3. transform to accommodate the demand for hybrid selling approach.

Services
B2B

Industry
High Tech

Market
Denmark

Approach

With approximately five acquisitions each year, Marel has encountered an increasingly complex and fragmented data environment with multiple ERP and CRM systems. Therefore, Marel has been obliged to undergo an extensive digital transformation across strategy, learning, tech, data, and innovation.

With respect for both traditions and DNA, Merkle helped structure and break down data by carrying out an extensive data mining effort based on more than 8 million data points across thousands of customers and orders, leading to a new digital ecosystem.

Increasing marketing pipeline value and MQLs have been one of the outcome of Marel’s digital transformation. 

Other initiatives as part of the transformation are a value-based customer portal with more options on how to view, experience, buy, operate, and maintain solutions, a new way of minimizing time spent on customer support, and the creation of a virtual demo center 3D showcasing Marel equipment. 

Results

By bridging sales and marketing to gain in-depth knowledge of customer-specific needs, Marel now more than ever accommodates customer experience and support from A to Z.

Marel has increased the total marketing pipeline value with 183% and improved its ability to convert leads by 20% in total. During the process, several new cross-selling opportunities have been discovered, that will generate sources of revenue for the future.

Keys to success

• A hybrid engagement model
• Creating a growth engine